Stepping Out of the Shadows
by MyPastLife
Summary: After the attack at the Quidditch World Cup, the Trio returns to Hogwarts for the beginning of a new school year. However, a new Fourth Year is sorted and has ties to Harry's past. How will the two help each other, and how will they get what they want from a world so determined to plan out everything for them?


"Montesquieu, Maximilian" McGonagall called.

The lanky form of Maximilian James Montesquieu strode quietly but purposefully towards the Sorting Hat. The Hogwarts students watched silently, all eyes on the new Fourth Year. Seeing anyone other than a First Year being Sorted was a strange sight, seeing as most children started their education at Hogwarts. However, seeing as the First War had 'ended' fifteen years ago, some families knew better than to believe that the war was well and truly over. As the kids stared, one elderly Headmaster looked on in shock.

'_So, the Montesquieu family was not entirely lost. It seems that Amy and William have decided to step back out into the light and out of hiding.' _Albus thought. Honestly, he had been told that Amy and William had been killed in a Death Eater raid. All that the Order had found in what was left of the small cottage were scorch marks and large amounts of blood. At the time, it would not be unusual to proclaim that the couple was dead. However, it seems that William was more resourceful than he had thought. Now, he was dealing with their son. Son of William, cunning and deceptive, and the son of Amy, charming and knowledgeable. If the boy was truly a Montesquieu, he would turn out both like his mother _and_ father. Yes, a certain headache, indeed.

As he approached the Sorting Hat, he spotted Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. Elderly blue eyes met steel blue. After a brief moment, Maximilian slightly nodded and gently took the Hat from Professor McGonagall and placed it lightly on top of his head. Not two seconds later, the Sorting Hat announced its decision.

"**SLYTHERIN!"**

Letting out a small sigh, he silently walked over to the end of the Slytherin table and took a seat. A few minutes later, the Headmaster stood up, and asked the students to quiet down.

"Students," Dumbledore started. "I am sadly given the duty to announce that there will be no Quidditch taking place this year."

At this, there was an outbreak of mumbling and gasping among the tables.

"However, I am pleased to announce that the Triwizard Tournament will be hosted this year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore's words met stunned silence, and then another outbreak of muttering. "Rest assured, students, that only those of age will be allowed to participate in the Tournament."

In response, Fred and George made a show of complaining that it wasn't fair. Dumbledore watched them with a knowing twinkle in his eyes and politely asked them to sit down.

"Since Hogwarts is hosting the Tournament, be aware that there will be students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. I kindly ask all of you to be respectful of your differences and help them when needed. This Tournament is about friendly competition between the schools, after all."

Not soon after, the door to the Great Hall flew open, scaring students near the back of their tables and making them jump. Dumbledore stood up and greeted Alastor, introducing him as their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

With little more to say, Dumbledore said some odd words, the feast began.

After filling themselves to the brim, the students were led to their new rooms. Luckily, Max didn't have to share any rooms, as each Slytherin student was allowed their own private room in the dungeons. Not two minutes after storing everything away in the provided furniture, did he hear a small chime from the walls in the room, a curfew notice. Taking off the formal robes he wore for the Sorting, he donned his pajamas and crawled into bed.

-The Next Morning-

Max had never been much of a morning person, even though he got up at 6 a.m. on his own accord. After a quick shower and drying his hair, he paused and looked in the mirror. He was fairly white-skinned, but not pale, and had fair blonde hair that came up along the side of his head, with bangs resting not too far above his eyebrows. He had lost most of his baby fat over summer, leaving a narrower and more defined jaw. He was quite handsome, if he didn't say so himself. After brushing his teeth, he donned his Slytherin school attire and made his way to the door. With a light snap, the door closed behind him.

After climbing the stairs back to the common room, he quickly exited the dungeons and began exploring the castle to make sure he knew where everything was.

-Entrance Hall, Dinner Line-

Max had an enjoyable morning, which was spent exploring the large castle. He was allowed the morning off, so that he would be confident that he would know where his classes were. He was planning to get his schedule after dinner.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing

there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. Max, who had read the Prophet earlier, quickly realized what Malfoy was getting at.

"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily

Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall

could hear. "Listen to this!

_FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC_

_It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes_

_Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor_

_crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the_

_disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh_

_embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of_

_Muggle Artifacts Office."_

Malfoy looked up.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's

a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed.

Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper

with a flourish and read on:

_Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago,_

_was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen")_

_over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed_

_to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry_

_when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted_

_murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily_

_guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley_

_was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the_

_policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had_

_involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene._

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding

it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house!

Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron. . ."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered

Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry - both he and Hermione had

grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy

"that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always

looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Harry, turning away. Max noticed Malfoy reaching for his wand, so he took out his own wand and prepared to intervene.

BANG!

Several people screamed - Harry felt something white-hot graze the side of his

face - he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even

touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and looked up to see Malfoy pinned to the wall, arms bound and spread, positioned as if he were nailed to a cross. He followed Draco's stunned gaze to the new Fourth Year, who's wand was out, eyes piercing steel blue.

"_Accio._" Max muttered, summoning Draco's wand.

Max then turned to Harry. "The name's Max." He shook Harry's hand. Harry shook back. "This is Ron and Hermione."

Max nodded and shook hands with them both.

Curiosity reigning supreme, Harry asked the question eating at his mind.

"Have I seen you somewhere?" Harry asked.

Max's left eyebrow shot up at the question. "I'm surprised you remember. Your mother would bring you over to my house to talk with Mum when we were children."

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" came Moody's shout. "I walk around the corner for exactly 17 seconds and this happens!" Moody's outburst confirmed some students' presumptions. _'Yep, definitely paranoid.'_

Looking up at Malfoy, Moody pieced the evidence together. "Boy, where's your wand?"

Malfoy just moved his eyes from Moody to Max. Moody held out his hand to Max, who handed over Malfoy's wand. Without a word, Max did a leftward wave followed by a short flick of his wand and Malfoy dropped to the floor in a heap.

"Let's make a visit with your Head of House, boy." Moody grunted, hauling Malfoy to his feet. Malfoy shot a scathing look at Max, who just shrugged it off nonchalantly.

After a quick lunch, Max grabbed his schedule and headed to his next class: Defense Against the Dark Arts. After opening the door and picking a seat, Max took out a book and started to read.

Not soon after, Harry eagerly made his way into the room followed by Ron and Hermione. Harry took the seat right next to Max, with Ron and Hermione directly in the row behind them. Max set down his book, expecting the question that was forming on Harry's lips.

"How does Professor Moody know you of all people?" Harry asked.

Max shrugged as if he didn't know. "He trained my father to be an Auror, so I think he just recognizes me. I look a lot like my dad, you know. Same with you."

"I know." Harry muttered. "Wait, how do you know what my dad looks like?"

Max looked at Harry incredulously. "Our dads were partners when they joined the Auror Training program at the Ministry."

Harry sat awkwardly. "Sorry, I didn't know."

Max turned and patted him on the shoulder. "It's fine. Not a lot of people knew anyways. If you'd like, you could come home with me over Christmas break. We have tons of photos, and I'll ask dad to tell you a few stories from when they were in Hogwarts. My dad was the reason why the pranks on the Slytherins were always the most memorable, after all."

"So your dad was a Slytherin, and he allowed them to prank his own house?" Harry asked.

Max guffawed. "Of course he did! He hated all of the Voldemort sympathizers and the soon-to-be Death Eaters, so he helped James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius set up the best pranks. He would provide the class schedules, 'secret' Slytherin haunts, and the passwords to all of the portraits going down into the Slytherin dungeons."

As Max finished speaking, the telltale sound of a man with a peg leg echoed around the room as Moody 'stumped' to the front of the room. Pulling out what must have been the class roster, he started taking roll call. His normal eye casually went down and across the paper while he was reading, but his blue magical eye turned to each student as they said their name. Moody merely looked bored while taking attendance, but an eyebrow was raised as he called for Max.

"William's boy, eh?" Moody asked, in his gravelly voice.

Max nodded. "Yeah. Dad has some interesting stories about you."

Moody grumbled. "Yeah, yeah. Pranksters, he and James were."

After taking attendance, Moody told everyone to "put your books away. You won't be needing them." Not long after, all of the books were in the student's bags. Moody continued. "According to a letter from Professor Lupin, I am under the impression that you have covered most of the Dark creatures, correct?" At the student's nodding, he nodded back. "Well then, its time you start learning about the spells. To start off, do any of you know which spells are the most harshly punished by wizarding law?"

Ron raised his hand, which was shaking slightly.

Moody pointed at him, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender.

"Er," Ron said uncertainly. "My father told me about one...is it the Imperius Curse or something?"

"Ah, yes," said Moody (almost) sincerely. "Gave the Ministry quite the trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Without warning, Moody pulled out a large jar from the inside of his pocket and set it on the desk. It contained a few spiders. Of course, Ron jumped, since he absolutely hated spiders. Moody took off the top, grabbed one and aimed his wand at it and muttered "_Imperio!"_

The spider leaped off of his hand, and started doing multiple acrobatic tricks, scaring the students, making everyone else laugh. Except Moody.

"Think this is funny, huh? How would you like it if you were the one I put under the Curse?"

The laughter in the room died almost instantly.

"This curse could make you drown yourself, jump out of a window, try to crawl down someone's throat, kill, torture and rape other people, and so much more. The creativity is only limited to the person casting the spell. And, believe it or not, the Death Eaters are quite creative. As I said earlier, the Imperius Curse caused quite a havoc some years ago, when wizards at the Ministry had to determine who was actually in control of their actions. I will be teaching you to fight this curse, with the use of CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody shouted at the end, making all of the students jump.

"Next spell." Moody announced. It was Neville this time. "What spell?"

"The Cruciatus Curse" said Neville softly. Max winced in sympathy.

"Your name's Longbottom, correct?" Moody asked, looking back down at the roster and back up again. Neville just nodded.

"It'll have to be bigger to get the full effect." Moody muttered as he leveled his wand at it. _"Engorgio." _The spider grew bigger. Then, Moody carefully set down the spider, aimed, and growled _"Crucio!"_

The spider trembled, curled in about itself, and if it could, it would have screamed as it shook violently, legs twisting and turning over in an obscure fashion. Neville quickly got very pale, and looked like he couldn't catch his breath. Finally, Hermione couldn't take it any more.

"Stop it!" Hermione yelled. Moody stopped immediately. The spider stopped trembling, but its legs continued to twitch occasionally. _"Reducio."_ The spider returned to its regular size. Neville sat, pale, hands grasping the desk with white knuckles.

"Pain," Moody started. "You don't need knives and thumbscrews if you know the Cruciatus Curse. This spell used to be pretty popular, too. Any others? This time, only Hermione and Max had their hands in the air.

"Montesquieu" Moody grumbled. "Which one?"

"Avada Kedavra. The killing curse." Max stated calmly.

Moody nodded. "Correct. Now. _Watch."_

Moody again grabbed the spider and set it on his desk. The spider tried to scuttle away, but Moody was faster. Leveling his wand, he muttered _"Avada Kedavra!"_ There was a blinding flash of green light, and the spider was upside down on its back, dead. He swept it onto the floor with a hand. "It's not nice. Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. And there's no way to block it with a magical shield. There is only one person who has survived being hit by the curse, and he is sitting right in front of me."

At that, everyone turned and looked at Harry. Harry pretended to find the blackboard fascinating, but didn't really see the blackboard at all. All he could see was his mother being blasted away by a bright green flash of light. Voldemort. With effort, he pulled his thoughts back into the present.

"The Killing Curse is a curse that needs a bit of powerful magic behind it - you could all get out your wands and say the words and I would get little more than a nosebleed. But it doesn't matter - I'm not here to teach you how to use it. Now, if there's no countercurse, then why am I showing you? Because you have to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody yelled again, the kids jumped.

"Those three curses are known as the Unforgivable Curses, and the use of any of those on a fellow human being will land you in Azkaban for life. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills...copy this down..." Moody explained. The rest of the class was spent taking notes on each of the three Unforgivable Curses. Nobody dared make a sound until the bell rang - but when it did, a torrent of conversation was unleashed as the students made their way out of the door. Most people were talking about the spider, but Harry noticed something off. Neville just sort of stood by the door, wide-eyed like when he saw the Cruciatus Curse.

"Neville, are you all right?" said Hermione.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. "Very interesting dinner

- I mean lesson - what's for eating?"

Ron gave Harry a startled look. "Neville, what -?"

But an odd clunking noise sounded behind them, and they turned to see Professor Moody

limping toward them. All five of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he

spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard.

"It's all right, sonny," he said to Neville. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on… we

can have a cup of tea…"

Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody then moved his magical eye towards Harry and Max. "You alright, Potter, Montesquieu?"

Harry tried to say yes, but was beat by Max, who grabbed Harry's arm and looked down. "Not really, Professor." Max stated. Moody nodded his head over the shoulder, and ushered them back up into the Defense room with Neville. They made their way up to Moody's office, where he conjured three chairs for them to sit in.

Moody sat in front of them. "It was harsh, but it was necessary. You needed to know. Neville, I have a book I think you might enjoy. I got it as a gift, but I don't find myself needing this very often." With that, he handed Neville _Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean_.

Neville looked positively radiant. "Thanks, Professor!" Moody just nodded and Neville left the room, closing the door with a soft _click._

Moody turned to the remaining boys. "You two have watched your parents fall to these curses. Yet, you two are the most talented students in this school at Defense. Both Harry's track record and how you dealt with Malfoy, Max, have proved that. I have seen those by my side, my allies, my friends, struck with these curses. I wish I could have never seen the light leave their eyes. But, to imagine my family... Even I can not even imagine how that feels. I hope you two can remain strong, we need more people like you. If you ever need anything, even some extra training if you wish, (Harry and Max perked up at this, making Moody chuckle) don't hesitate to come to me. Got it?"

Both Max and Harry nodded, turned, and walked from his office. Not long after reaching the bottom of the stairs, did Harry finally crack.

"Your parents, too?" Harry asked lightly.

"_Parent"_ Said Max, putting emphasis on the 't'. "My mother was struck by the Killing Curse before my dad could grab both me and the portkey to the safe house. The curse flew through our front window, and I watched my mom fall to the floor."

"Sorry." was all Harry could say.

At this, Max turned and held Harry by the shoulders, looking straight into his face. "Please, don't be."

Unknown to both of them, Malfoy stood not 10 feet behind them around the corner, listening to their every word with a growing grin on his face.


End file.
